Sejanus accordingly thought
that he must be prompt, and chose a poison the gradual working of which
might be mistaken for a natural disorder. It was given to Drusus by Lygdus,
a eunuch, as was ascertained eight years later. As for Tiberius, he went to
the
Senate house during the whole time of the prince's illness, either
because he was not afraid, or to show his strength of mind, and even in the
interval between his death and funeral. Seeing the consuls, in token of
their grief, sitting on the ordinary benches, he reminded them of their high
office and of their proper place; and when
CIVIL
ADMINISTRATION; DRUSUS POISONED |
the Senate burst into tears,
suppressing a groan, he revived their spirits with a fluent speech. "He knew
indeed that he might be reproached for thus encountering the gaze of the
Senate after so recent an affliction. Most mourners could hardly bear even
the soothing words of kinsfolk or to look on the light of day. And such were
not to be condemned as weak. But he had sought a more manly consolation in
the bosom of the commonwealth."
Then deploring the extreme age of
Augusta, the childhood of his grandsons, and his own declining years, he
begged the Senate to summon Germanicus's children, the only comfort under
their present misery. The consuls went out, and having encouraged the young
princes with kind words, brought them in and presented them to the emperor.
Taking them by the hand he said: "Senators, when these boys lost their
father, I committed them to their uncle, and begged him, though he had
children of his own, to cherish and rear them as his own offspring, and
train them for himself and for posterity. Drusus is now lost to us, and I
turn my prayers to you, and before heaven and your country I adjure you to
receive into your care and guidance the great-grandsons of Augustus,
descendants of a most noble ancestry. So fulfil your duty and mine. To you,
Nero and Drusus, these senators are as fathers. Such is your birth that your
prosperity and adversity must alike affect the State."
